Service to the Church

Hearts on Fire Corazones en Fuego

Bivens, Emmaus Institute program help adults

spread bilingual joy By Jessie Bazan, SOT/Sem ’17

“Do you see how on fire this place is?” A colleague’s question stops Kristi Bivens, SOT/Sem ’08, in her tracks.

It is opening night of the Emmaus Institute, a ministerial formation program for lay leaders and deacon candidates in the Diocese of Saint Cloud. Nearly 100 new students and instructors flock to the Quad for a welcome dinner before class.

Eager chatter in both English and Spanish fills the room. Many participants have never set foot on the campus of Saint John’s University before tonight. Bivens had been consumed by the chaos of coordinating the institute’s many moving parts. Now as she gazes around, Bivens notices sparks of joy flying from her students.

Their hearts burn within them. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, these students encounter the risen Christ in their parishes, families and communities.

They feel called to serve the church in both paid and volunteer positions. Now, there exists a formation program to take their service to the next level.

“The Emmaus Institute is designed to equip adults with the skills and knowledge to really, truly claim their baptismal call,” said Bivens, the associate director of lay leadership formation for the Diocese of Saint Cloud. “We designed the program to teach students about theology and the church, as well as ministerial skills like listening, pastoral care, forgiveness and creating small Christian communities. This is formation that enables lay people to be co-responsible for the church.”

The Emmaus Institute launched in Fall 2019 as a partnership between the diocese and the School of Theology and Seminary. Cohorts of students come to Collegeville for classes one weekend per month for four years. Alumni of the SOT/Sem serve as instructors for many of the classes, which Bivins sees as a real strength of the institute. “Most alumni are in ministry themselves, so they are able to bridge the heady theology with the practical, pastoral implications on the ground in parishes and schools,” she said. Another highlight of the Emmaus Institute is its cultivation of leadership from within local Latinx communities. Two of the Institute’s three cohorts are taught entirely in Spanish – one for Spanish-speaking lay ministers and another for Spanish-speaking deacon candidates. Bivens says Latinx leadership is desperately needed in the church, and not just

because numbers of Latinx Catholics continue to rise.

“Latinx Catholics have gifts and experiences to offer that will help the church at large understand the Gospel in new and exciting ways,” Bivens said. “Latinx people have been doing great things in our diocese for a long time. One of the biggest ways for them to be seen and heard is through formation.” Bivens said coordinating an institute in two languages has only strengthened her Benedictine hospitality.

“I need to listen with the ear of my heart at a whole new level when someone is speaking to me in a language I don’t fully understand,” she said.

Bivens draws on her Benedictine background often in her work with the Emmaus Institute. As an alumna of both the College of Saint Benedict and the School of Theology and Seminary, Bivens experienced the great value of learning in community with peers who carry common questions and goals. She wants to create similar space for students in the Emmaus Institute.

“We can build a solid educational curriculum, but the most important thing we can do is to pay attention: to the signs of the times, to the needs of the church, to the desires of our students,” Bivens said. “The spirit is on the move in this community of learners.” Jessie Bazan, M.Div., SOT/Sem ’17, helps Christians explore vocation and calling in her work with the Collegeville Institute. She is editor and co-author of Dear Joan Chittister: Conversations with Women in the Church (Twenty-Third Publications, 2019).

Kristi Bivens, SOT/Sem ’08, associate director of lay leadership formation for the Diocese of Saint Cloud, speaks to a class at the Emmaus Institute. Classes are designed to teach students about theology and the church, and to foster ministerial skills like listening, pastoral care, forgiveness and creating small Christian communities. They are taught in both English and Spanish as the diocese seeks to cultivate leadership from within local Latinx communities.